An exquisite and simple to prepare dessert, with poor origins, now served in all restaurants in Italy and the world. Small tips and tricks to enjoy tiramisu by discovering different variations.
Il Tiramisu it is one of the best known traditional sweets of our country, most likely linked to the culinary history of the peasant families of the Veneto. Let's find out how to prepare it at home!
Practical information
difficulty: easy
Preparation: 60 minutes
cooking: (resting time) at least 60 minutes
doses: 4 people
Presentation of the dish
Tiramisu is one of the most famous desserts of the Italian tradition. A simple and tasty dish based on everything coffee, eggs and ladyfingers and for which you don't even need to turn on the oven. But where does this recipe come from? The origins of tiramisu are hard fought, even if at the beginning it was certainly just a poor dessert prepared by peasant families. The most common hypothesis is that tiramisu originated in the countryside of the Veneto, where "tiramesù" means "raise me". This is because its composition was very caloric and protein.
According to the official story, the most used recipe was spread at the end of the 60s in a restaurant in Treviso. However, in recent years, some research has brought to light the hypothesis that the birth of tiramisu is not the work of Venetian hands, but of chefs of the Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Although tiramisu was once a dish to present at breakfast to start the day well, now it is a dessert prepared in all restaurants in Italy, if not in the world.
Ingredients
150 g of ladyfingers
200 g of ready-made long coffee
Bitter cocoa powder to taste
For the mascarpone cream
250 g of mascarpone
2 medium fresh eggs
50 g of sugar
Preparation
First of all prepare coffee with mocha, add a couple of teaspoons of sugar and leave it aside to cool.
Then focus on the perfect. Carefully divide the egg whites from the yolks, making sure that there is no trace of yolk in the egg white so that it can whip perfectly. Add half the sugar in the egg yolks and whip the mixture until the consistency is foamy.
Add the mascarpone to the egg yolks little by little, continuing to mix everything. Then set aside the cream obtained.
So take care of the whites. With clean whisks, whisk the egg whites until stiff adding the remaining sugar a little at a time.
The egg whites must be mounted in firm snow and you will understand this when the preparation will no longer move when you turn the bowl. Then start adding the egg whites to the mascarpone cream, a little at a time, continuing to mix to dilute the mixture from bottom to top.
Now the real construction of tiramisu begins. Spread a first layer of cream on the bottom of the pan in which you will prepare the tiramisu.
Take the coffee and the ladyfingers. Soak one cookie at a time, first on one side and then on the other, and place them in the pan over the layer of cream, side by side.
When you have finished the first layer, spread a generous layer of cream.
Then repeat with a layer of biscuits soaked in coffee and finally finish with the last layer of mascarpone cream, which will level all the holes and all the spaces between the cookies.
Let it rest in the fridge for a few hours and before serving your tiramisu sprinkle the surface with plenty of bitter cocoa.
Tiramisu: curiosities and advice
To have an excellent tiramisu there are some tricks to consider. First of all make sure that the coffee is cold, so the ladyfingers will not be soaked excessively. The eggs also need to be really fresh because the cream is whipped like that of a pastry.
If you want to follow the more traditional recipe you should add it to the cream a drop of marsala which will give it an intense and particular taste.
Some advice regarding cocoa instead: between one layer and another, drop a few drops of bitter cocoa, a sweet surprise especially for the little ones. And the final sprinkling of bitter cocoa is best added when you need to serve the tiramisu, otherwise it penetrates too much into the cream.
What are the variations of this very traditional recipe? The first variation that is often made is in the type of biscuit. For example, for a lighter tiramisu, you can use i Pavesini instead of ladyfingers. Another interesting and tasty variation includes strawberries. For a spring-flavored tiramisu insert some strawberry juice and pieces into the cream and garnish the surface of the cake with lots of beautiful whole strawberries!
